Employee Benefits Survey

Employee Benefits in the United States News Release

For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Friday, July 22, 2016 USDL-16-1493
Technical information: (202) 691-6199 ncsinfo@bls.gov www.bls.gov/ebs
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 pressoffice@bls.gov
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS IN THE UNITED STATES - MARCH 2016
The participation rate for employer-sponsored medical care benefits for civilian workers was 52 percent
in March 2016, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The participation rate was 49 percent
for private industry workers and 73 percent for state and local government workers. (See tables A and 2,
and chart 1.)
The participation rate for employer-sponsored retirement benefits, which include defined benefit and
defined contribution plans, was 54 percent for civilian workers. The participation rate was 49 percent for
private industry workers and 81 percent for state and local government workers. Differences in
retirement plan participation are influenced by the type of plan offered. (See tables A and 1, chart 1, and
the technical note.)
Fifty-seven percent of civilian workers participated in employer-sponsored life insurance benefits. The
participation rate for private industry workers was 54 percent and 78 percent for state and local
government workers. (See tables A and 5, and chart 1.)
The share of single coverage medical care premiums paid by employees averaged 19 percent for civilian
workers, 21 percent for private industry workers, and 13 percent for state and local government workers.
(See table 3 and chart 2.)
These data are from the National Compensation Survey (NCS), which provides comprehensive
measures of compensation cost levels and trends and also provides benefits incidence data on the
percentage of workers with access to and participating in employer-provided benefit plans. The survey
covers a broad range of benefits including holidays and vacations, sick leave, life insurance, and detailed
provisions for health care and retirement plans. Archived NCS news releases are available at
www.bls.gov/ncs/ncspubs.htm.
Table A. Selected employer-sponsored benefits: Access, participation and take-up rates1, March 2016
(All workers = 100 percent)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Benefit Civilian Private industry State and local government
Access Participation Take-up Access Participation Take-up Access Participation Take-up
rates rates rates
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Retirement 69 54 78 66 49 75 90 81 90
Medical care 70 52 75 67 49 73 88 73 83
Life insurance 59 57 98 55 54 98 80 78 98
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1 For definitions of major plans, key provisions, and related terms, see the "Glossary of Employee Benefit Terms" at
www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/glossary20152016.htm and the technical note.
Highlights of employer-sponsored benefits for civilian workers by worker characteristics:
* Access to retirement benefits for major occupational groups ranged from 47 percent for service
workers to 84 percent for management, professional, and related workers. (See table 1.)
* Access to medical care benefits was 88 percent of full-time workers and 19 percent for part-time
workers. (See table 2.)
* Access to life insurance benefits was 85 percent for union workers and 54 percent for nonunion
workers. (See table 5.)
* For workers with an average wage in the lowest 25 percent category, 41 percent had access to
paid sick leave, 51 percent had access to paid vacations, and 53 percent had access to paid
holidays. For workers with an average wage in the highest 25 percent category, 87 percent had
access to paid sick leave, 79 percent had access to paid vacations, and 83 percent had access to
paid holidays. (See table 6.)
Highlights of employer-sponsored benefits for civilian workers by establishment characteristics:
* Access to retirement benefits by establishment size ranged from 53 percent for workers in
establishments with 1 to 99 workers to 86 percent for workers in establishments with 100
workers or more. (See table 1.)
* Eighty-four percent of civilian workers in goods-producing industries had access to medical care
benefits. For workers in service-providing industries, the access rate to medical care benefits was
68 percent. (See table 2.)
* The access rate for life insurance for workers by Census region was 51 percent in the West, 59
percent in the Northeast, 61 percent in the South, and 62 percent in the Midwest. (See table 5.)
* For workers in establishments with 1 to 99 workers, the access rate was 56 percent for paid sick
leave, 68 percent for paid vacations, and 69 percent for paid holidays. For workers in
establishments with 100 or more workers, the access rate was 79 percent for paid sick leave, 79
percent for paid vacations, and 82 percent for paid holidays. (See table 6.)
More information can be obtained by calling (202) 691-6199, sending e-mail to ncsinfo@bls.gov, or by
visiting www.bls.gov/ebs.
Additional Data Available Fall 2016
More information will be published September 23, 2016 on the incidence and provisions of health care
benefits, retirement benefits, life insurance, short-term and long-term disability benefits, paid holidays
and vacations, and other selected benefits. For the latest benefit publications see www.bls.gov/ebs.

TECHNICAL NOTE
Data in this release are from the National Compensation Survey (NCS), conducted by the U.S.
Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This release contains March 2016 data on
employer-provided benefits offered to civilian, private industry, and state and local government workers
in the United States. Excluded are federal government workers, the military, agricultural workers,
private household workers, and the self-employed. This news release provides data on the incidence of
(access to and participation in) selected benefits and the share of premiums paid by employers and
employees for medical care.
Comparing private and public sector data: Incidence of employee benefits in state and local
government should not be directly compared to private industry. Differences between these sectors stem
from factors such as variation in work activities and occupational structures. Manufacturing and sales,
for example, make up a large part of private industry work activities but are rare in state and local
government. Administrative support and professional occupations (including teachers) account for two-
thirds of the state and local government workforce, compared with one-half of private industry.
Leave benefits for teachers: Primary, secondary, and special education teachers typically have a work
schedule of 37 or 38 weeks per year. Because of this work schedule, they are generally not offered
vacations or holidays. In many cases, the time off during winter and spring breaks during the school year
are not considered vacation days for the purposes of this survey.
Medical care premiums: The estimates for medical care premiums are not based on actual decisions
regarding medical coverage made by employees; instead they are based on the assumption that all
employees in the occupation can opt for single or family coverage. In instances where annual premiums
are collected, the values are converted to a monthly premium amount using the annual work
schedule. Annual work schedules may be less than twelve months.
Sample size: See appendix table 1 at the end of this release.
Survey scope: See appendix table 2 at the end of this release.
Obtaining information: For research articles on employee benefits, see the Monthly Labor Review
benefits section at www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/subject/b.htm and Beyond the Numbers: Pay and Benefits at
www.bls.gov/opub/btn/archive/home.htm. For further technical information, see Chapter 8, "National
Compensation Measures," BLS Handbook of Methods at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/homch8.pdf.
Definitions of major terms:
Access: Employees are considered to have access to a benefit plan if it is available for their use. For
example, if an employee is permitted to participate in a medical care plan offered by the employer, but
the employee declines to do so, he or she is placed in a category with those having access to medical
care.
Participation: Employees in contributory plans are considered participants in an insurance or retirement
plan if they have paid required contributions and fulfilled any applicable service requirements.
Employees in noncontributory plans are counted as participating regardless of whether they have
fulfilled the service requirements. Note that the term "incidence" can refer to either rates of access or
rates of participation in a benefit plan.
Take-up rate: The percentage of workers with access to a plan who participate in the plan.
Retirement benefits include defined benefit pension plans and defined contribution retirement plans.
Workers are counted as having access or participating in retirement benefits if they have access or
participate in at least one type of plan, defined benefit or defined contribution; some workers may have
access to or participate in both. Differences in retirement plan participation are influenced by type of
plan offered. Participation in defined benefit plans is often mandatory, subject to any applicable
eligibility requirements, while participation in defined contribution plans is often voluntary.
Medical care plans provide services or payments for services rendered in the hospital or by a qualified
medical care provider.
Calculation details:
Average hourly earnings from sampled occupations within an establishment were used to produce
estimates for worker groups within six earnings categories: the lowest 10 percent, the lowest 25 percent,
the second 25 percent, the third 25 percent, the highest 25 percent, and the highest 10 percent. The
categories are based on unpublished March 2016 wages and salaries series from the Employer Costs for
Employee Compensation at www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ecec_06092016.pdf.
The percentiles were computed using earnings and scheduled hours of work reported for individual
workers in sampled establishment jobs. Establishments in the survey are asked to report only individual
worker earnings for each sampled job. For the calculation of the hourly percentile values, the individual
worker hourly earnings are weighted and arrayed from lowest to highest. The values corresponding to
the percentiles are:
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Characteristics Hourly wage percentiles
10 25 50 (median) 75 90
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Civilian $9.54 $12.40 $18.52 $29.80 $45.36
Private industry 9.37 12.00 17.73 28.60 44.33
State and local government 12.70 16.71 24.20 35.99 49.79
________________________________________________________________________________________________
The lowest 10-percent and 25-percent wage categories include those occupations with an average hourly
wage less than the 10th percentile value and 25th percentile value, respectively. The second 25-percent
category includes those occupations that earn at or above the 25th percentile value but less than the 50th
percentile value. The third 25-percent category includes those occupations that earn at or above the 50th
percentile value but less than the 75th percentile value. Finally, the highest 25- and 10 percent wage
categories include those occupations with an average wage value greater than or equal to the 75th and
90th percentile value, respectively.
Individual workers can be in earnings category that is different from the occupation into which they are
classified because average hourly earnings for the occupation are used to produce the benefit estimates.

Appendix table 1. Survey establishment response, March 2016
Establishments Civilian Private industry State and local
governments
Total in sampling
frame(1).............. 6,173,978 5,946,179 227,799
Total in sample..... 11,400 9,811 1,589
Responding(2)..... 8,358 6,886 1,472
Refused(3)........ 2,102 2,009 93
Out of business or
not in survey scope... 940 916 24
1 The list of establishments from which the survey sample was selected (sampling frame) was
developed from State unemployment insurance reports and is based on the 2012 North American
Industry Classification System (NAICS). For private industries, an establishment is usually a
single physical location. For state and local governments, an establishment is defined as all
locations of a government entity.
2 Establishments that provided data at the initial interview.
3 Establishments that did not provide data at the initial interview. Data for establishments
not responding at the time of update interviews are imputed. Detailed information on nonresponse
adjustment and imputation can be found in BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 8, National
Compensation Measures, Bureau of Labor Statistics, on the Internet at
www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/homch8.pdf.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey.

Appendix table 2. Number of workers represented,(1) March 2016
Occupational group(2) Civilian workers Private industry State and local
workers government workers
All workers........... 133,189,200 114,163,700 19,025,500
Management,
professional, and
related............. 41,161,500 30,594,900 10,566,700
Management,
business, and
financial......... 12,096,200 10,524,200 
Professional and
related........... 29,065,400 20,070,700 8,994,700
Teachers........ 6,698,400  5,045,200
Primary,
secondary, and
special
education
school
teachers...... 4,466,600  3,738,900
Registered
nurses.......... 3,029,800  
Service............. 28,598,200 24,593,500 4,004,600
Protective service 3,265,900 1,394,000 1,871,900
Sales and office.... 33,202,200 30,552,300 2,649,900
Sales and related 12,487,200 12,372,400 
Office and
administrative
support........... 20,715,000 18,179,900 2,535,100
Natural resources,
construction, and
maintenance......... 10,523,800 9,531,000 992,800
Construction,
extraction,
farming, fishing,
and forestry...... 5,103,100 4,532,900 
Installation,
maintenance, and
repair............ 5,420,700 4,998,100 
Production,
transportation, and
material moving..... 19,703,600 18,892,100 811,500
Production........ 9,428,000 9,318,100 
Transportation and
material moving... 10,275,600 9,574,000 
1 The number of workers represented by the survey are rounded to the nearest 100.
Estimates of the number of workers provide a description of the size and composition of
the labor force included in the survey. Estimates are not intended, however, for
comparison to other statistical series to measure employment trends or levels.
2 The 2010 Standard Occupational Classification system is used to classify workers.
Note: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals. Dashes
indicate that no estimates for this characteristic are provided in this publication.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey.